Rutgers storms Heights

Call Cappie Pondexter a slow starter. The Rutgers senior point guard, who scored just 5 points in the first half of last night's game against Boston College, finished with a season-high 27, including four 3 pointers, as the No. 8 Scarlet Knights defeated the No. 14 Eagles, 71-60, before 1,124 at Conte Forum.

Also consider that Pondexter sat out the first eight games of the season. So she may be a slow starter, but she seems to have hit her stride.

It has been a long and weary road trip for Rutgers. First was an all-day trip last Saturday that included a five-hour layover at the airport until the Scarlet Knights finally boarded a bus to South Bend, Ind. Then, a loss to Notre Dame the next day and another plane ride, this time to Boston.

The snow followed them, but their road woes ended with the win over BC (14-3, 5-1 Big East). The college closed at 3 p.m. yesterday, but the game went on, unfortunately for the Eagles.

The game had barely started when BC felt its first loss. The Eagles' leading scorer Jessalyn Deveny, went down clutching her right leg less than a minute into the game, and was helped into the locker room. But she emerged 10 minutes later, showing no signs that she was hurting. In fact, she has a sore right Achilles' tendon that had to be retaped, and she sparked the team with two 3-pointers, finishing the first half with a team-high 10 points.

"I just fell running and tweaked it," Deveny said, who with Clare Droesch had a team-high 18 points. "But there's no way I wanted to miss this game."

Ahead, 5-2, Rutgers (14-4, 5-1) went on a 13-0 run that left the Eagles wondering when they would score again.

Junior Aja Parham finally hit a layup and BC later got as close as 3 (24-21), with 7:07 left in the half on a jumper by Deveny. But Rutgers regained control and held the Eagles to just 3 more points the rest of the half to go into the break ahead, 32-24.

BC appeared reenergized in the second half, and again got within 3, only to again be turned back by Rutgers. The closest BC came the rest of the way was 55-50 with 8:24 to play on a 3-pointer by Deveny. "They're very scrappy, very aggressive," BC coach Cathy Inglese said of Rutgers. "They're a team that will convert and get some easy baskets, and they certainly did that today."

The Scarlet Knights committed nine turnovers; BC had 19.

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said she couldn't have been more pleased with Pondexter, who didn't just score points, but took charge on the court. "It was real crucial to see Cappie return to the Cappie of old," Stringer said of the two-time All-American who sat out the first semester for personal reasons,

Stringer said Pondexter is still returning to form "and is only at 65 percent."

To which BC's Inglese replied: "I don't want to be around her when she's 100 percent."